Mark Few and Randy Bennett walked a narrow line when discussing Thursday night's matchup between St. Mary's and No. 9 Gonzaga.

The head coaches know it's a marquee game and they want their players to embrace the moment. Then again, it's early January, so there figure to be larger moments to come for each team.

When asked Monday if it's important to get a leg up on the Gaels in the WCC race, Few responded, "It's important for us to get a leg up on anybody."

On Tuesday, Bennett said he wouldn't place too much emphasis on any game.

"They all count as one. They're all important," the St. Mary's head coach said. "... That USF game on Saturday concerns me as much as that Gonzaga game."

Some of the Gonzaga players admit they've been fueled by the fact the Gaels won the regular-season conference title outright last season. The Bulldogs had owned at least a share of the previous 11 regular-season crowns.

"They took something from us last year that we wanted, we thought we could have (gotten), so we've got to go get it back," Gonzaga forward Mike Hart said.

Said forward/center Kelly Olynyk: "We have no bragging rights right now. They're the ones we're looking up to right now. We've got to be able to reverse that."

Olynyk, a 7-foot junior, has done a remarkable job of reversing his career arc. He redshirted last season after averaging about five points and three rebounds per game over his freshman and sophomore seasons.

This season, he's averaging 17.1 points and 6.6 boards per game. He leads the WCC in field-goal percentage (67.5) and scored a career-high 33 points in the Zags' 81-74 victory at Santa Clara on Saturday.

Olynyk rates as a concern for Bennett. As for concerns about his team, Bennett used the word "careless." He thinks the Gaels have made too many careless turnovers (they're committing 13.1 turnovers per game) and have been careless on defense at times.

Bennett believes the Gaels can become a considerably better defensive team.

"Part of the thing I think about the most is," Bennett said, "why aren't we there yet? We aren't. Some guys (who) should be good defenders haven't figured it out yet as far as how to do their job consistently - and that's on me as a coach. I have to get them there."

Bennett doesn't have to worry about getting his players pumped to play in Spokane, Wash.

"There could be zero people in the crowd and our guys would be motivated," Bennett said, "but there happens to be 6,000 of them screaming."

Thursday's game

Who: St. Mary's (12-3, 1-0 WCC) vs. No. 9 Gonzaga (15-1, 2-0)

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Spokane, Wash.

TV: ESPN2

Quite a rivalry

St. Mary's and Gonzaga have faced each other nine times in the past three seasons. Here is a look at each team's wins in those nine meetings:

SMC

Gonz

at Spokane

1

2

at Moraga

1

2

at Las Vegas*

2

1

Total

4

5

* WCC tournament final

Note: In the past three regular seasons, Gonzaga has one outright title (2010), St. Mary's has one (2012) and the teams shared the 2011 title.